(NewsNation) — The American Cancer Society has revised its guidelines for lung cancer screening, recommending that an additional 5 million people be screened.
This includes older adults who used to smoke, regardless of how long ago they quit, according to the new guidelines published in the CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
The old guidelines suggested screening for people 55 to 74 years old who smoked a lot and either currently smoked or quit less than 15 years ago. The new guidelines recommend screening for people 50 to 80 years old who smoked a lot in the past, whether they currently smoke or not.
The guidelines no longer consider the time since quitting as a factor. The group’s lung cancer screening guideline has not been updated since 2013.
This update is expected to prevent 21% more lung cancer deaths compared to the old guidelines.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, and screening using a low-dose CT scan can help detect it early, increasing the chances of survival.
American adults are smoking fewer cigarettes than in previous decades, according to a new Gallup poll.
The poll has been tracking cigarette smoking among American adults since 1944. In 2023, however, 12% of adults said they smoked cigarettes, a slight uptick from 2022, when 11% said they smoked.